Mysterious purple spheres pop up in US desert

London: Thousands of tiny purple spheres have mysteriously popped up in the middle of America`s Arizona desert, completely isolated from the rest of the terrain.

Tuscon residents Geradine Vargas and her husband discovered the strange growth on Sunday during a walk. "We were taking photos around the area and we just ... I mean, how could you miss this?" Geradine said. "It was just like glittering in the sun."

"We did email a friend of ours who`s a zoologist, but she didn`t know," said a Daily Mail report, quoting Gerardine as having told KGUN-9, a news station in Tuscon. "I mean, she didn`t seem to recognise what it was."

The news station checked out the spheres, reporting that they were like "gooey marbles that ooze out a water substance when squished".

Darlene Buhrow, director of marketing for Tucson Botanical Gardens, said that after speaking to a botanist he learned that if the spheres are naturally occurring, they could be a slime mold or jelly fungus.

Others suggest they are some products like Deco Beads which are small, coloured, water-filled balls designed to keep plants hydrated. However, that does little to explain why thousands of them would have been put in the desert.